View Full Version : All is not lost
It seems that there is still hope for having young people view the bicycle as a form of transportation. If only we could the older people to agree. Or at least one idiot. What frosts me is the way he apparently handled the entire situation.
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/somerset/index.ssf?/base/news-3/120961667266210.xml&coll=1
YULitle
05-01-08, 05:57 AM
I'd try and find a sympathetic neighbor to the school that would allow some sort of temporary facility for bike parking. Then lot's of protesting. :D
I live a quarter mile north of an elementary school on a quiet residential street. The biggest traffic danger by far comes from parents driving their kids to school. Where I live none of the elementary, middle, or high schools offer busing, because both school districts are flat broke.
As for the idiot school principal cited in the opening post, the best solution is for the students to continue to organize and to popularize bike-to-school events, recruiting by example as many of their friends as possible.
http://www.yehudamoon.com/images/strips/2008-04-29.gif
I was thinking of that same cartoon Genec. When I bike to work I pass a school early enough to miss the traffic, but when I have to drive there's a ton of cars lined up dropping off their kids. It's on a busy road area, but it is still very doable (there's even sidewalks for the littilest kiddos). Real shame.
Allister
05-01-08, 08:19 AM
Would letting the Principle's tyres down be too harsh, do you think?
They could always offer to lend him a bike.
harleyfrog
05-01-08, 08:43 AM
I'll take Allister's idea and go one further. Take the principal's car, dismantle it and then reassemble it . . . on the school's roof. (just kidding, sorta) :lol:
AndrewP
05-01-08, 10:15 AM
They should pressure the people who control parking in the town to ban parking/stopping on the streets near the school at beginning and end of school day.
JohnBrooking
05-01-08, 10:22 AM
http://www.arcamax.com/pic/51604/784320 (http://www.arcamax.com/zits/s-334540-784320)
I was looking at one of the Danish cycling sites a few weeks ago and could not believe how primitive the Danes are. Nearly 50% of one high school's students rode there. Most of the rest either walked or went by public transport. Only a handful were dropped off by their parents.
They should be ashamed of themselves. As usual the good ol' US of A is showing the way to the rest of the world - look how many Americans don't even need an airbag? Carrying around, as they do, ample reserves of impact-resistant material built in to their persons, they don't need to have some bag exploding in their faces. Instead, the steering wheel is enveloped in yielding subcutaneous tissue designed to protect and preserve the fragile internal organs and muscles inside.
I feel the eco-students should be investigated for their un-American, subversive, eco-terrorist tendencies, perhaps using the Homeland Security services.
Have any students been injured/killed while driving to/from school? Seems like the principal's principle could be extended to student parking as well.
Paul
I was looking at one of the Danish cycling sites a few weeks ago and could not believe how primitive the Danes are. Nearly 50% of one high school's students rode there. Most of the rest either walked or went by public transport. Only a handful were dropped off by their parents.
They should be ashamed of themselves. As usual the good ol' US of A is showing the way to the rest of the world - look how many Americans don't even need an airbag? Carrying around, as they do, ample reserves of impact-resistant material built in to their persons, they don't need to have some bag exploding in their faces. Instead, the steering wheel is enveloped in yielding subcutaneous tissue designed to protect and preserve the fragile internal organs and muscles inside.
I feel the eco-students should be investigated for their un-American, subversive, eco-terrorist tendencies, perhaps using the Homeland Security services.
;) Yeah, that's it... dem subversive Euro "terrrists" types. ;)
Their website has an easy search feature to find the principals contact information for anyone that would like to share an opinion.
http://www.brrsd.k12.nj.us/index.cfm
Ed Holland
05-01-08, 12:52 PM
There's an elementary school about 1/4 mile up the road from our driveway. The morning is something like this...
7:30 AM. The sound of crickets chirping - I could almost turn left out into the road without looking
7:45 AM. Near gridlock, both directions - there's a stop sign at the other end of the street. Rarely, someone in the 10 to 15 mph creeping queue lets me in.
8:00 AM The sound of crickets chirping.
It's absurd.
gcottay
05-01-08, 01:07 PM
In most areas of the United States school principals are employed by elected officials.
jamesdenver
05-01-08, 01:22 PM
i like the last line where someone states their commute is only 10 minutes via bike
Lake_Tom
05-01-08, 02:08 PM
some people, like Principal Riccobono, just have this *insane* prejudice against cyclists. Those students are tough--they gave it right back to him. :thumbs up:
TOCyclist
05-01-08, 02:20 PM
Maybe 100, 200 or 300 bicycles chained together across the parking lot entrance/exit might get their attention.
mconlonx
05-01-08, 02:31 PM
In most areas of the United States school principals are employed by elected officials.
...and not protected by any pesky union.
maddyfish
05-01-08, 05:54 PM
I think what they did, locking their bikes legally, in plain sight is the way to go. Get more, as many as possible, kids to ride and legally park in plain sight.
Then, the principal is not the beall, end all, go over his head. Go to the school board, the superintendent, anybody else who will listen.
Dahon.Steve
05-01-08, 06:01 PM
As far as I'm concerend, the principal was doing the kids a favor. Bike racks at schools are a constant source of theft. Even this forum has loads of bike rack horror stories. The best solution would be to find a safe place to park two blocks from the school.
delegado zero
05-01-08, 07:54 PM
At my high school the bike racks were in kind of a cage of chain link fencing, and for about half an hour before and for like 15 minutes after school an administrator would open the gate and watch over the racks and I'm fairly certain there was never a problem with theft.
And it isn't like the administrator would be doing anything more important anyway since before and after school there weren't really that many kids inside to watch anyway.
JohnBrooking
05-01-08, 08:10 PM
I like how it's supposedly too dangerous because of all the cars and busses, including "courtesy busing to students who live within walking distance of the high school, because of the danger".
How wonderfully circular! I wonder if Catch-22 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch_22) is assigned reading in their English classes.
crhilton
05-01-08, 08:20 PM
It seems that there is still hope for having young people view the bicycle as a form of transportation. If only we could the older people to agree. Or at least one idiot. What frosts me is the way he apparently handled the entire situation.
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/somerset/index.ssf?/base/news-3/120961667266210.xml&coll=1
I keep saying it. If you want to fix the public schools fire all of the administration and start hiring from scratch ;).
I think I hear a dozen stories a year about really stupid things schools do with their money. The most recent (other than this) was a school here which tore down old trees to improve the view of the school. They did this after mass student protest, community protest, etc. I don't think they know that the "big pretty open building" craze was big a few years ago, and not being "green" is in.
ATAC49er
05-01-08, 08:25 PM
maddy, you got it.
Let the principal grouse and play 'politically correct school-nanny super-mom', while the kids stage their own ongoing critical mass by riding to school and LEGALLY locking up to everything they can. Then, on the last Friday of every month, they link the bikes together with chains/locks to block every entrance/exit the school has. (No, I'm not being sarcastic -- this is for real!)
Go over the top to make your point!
A personal update:
My wife sent an email to the principal voicing her opinion about his decision. His response had a tone of "I'm smarter than everybody else, so I'm right and don't' have to listen to the little people". He is very close minded to the idea of providing bike parking, except along a fence, by a 'retention pond', which is in effect a trash filled swamp. He would not consider any idea to make the road safer in front of the school.
Why can't he task the students with working with the police and school administration to come up with ideas to make it safer, and greener. I don't understand how some people think.
And BTW, Bridgewater-Raritan HS is in Somerset County, NJ. It is right next to Somerville NJ. That is where the Tour of Somerville is held every year, since 1940. Somerset County bills itself as a "cycling center".
Here is where you can contact the school: http://www.brrsd.k12.nj.us/contact.cfm
Thank you all for your support
maddmaxx
05-02-08, 06:50 AM
A personal update:
My wife sent an email to the principal voicing her opinion about his decision. His response had a tone of "I'm smarter than everybody else, so I'm right and don't' have to listen to the little people". He is very close minded to the idea of providing bike parking, except along a fence, by a 'retention pond', which is in effect a trash filled swamp. He would not consider any idea to make the road safer in front of the school.
Why can't he task the students with working with the police and school administration to come up with ideas to make it safer, and greener. I don't understand how some people think.
And BTW, Bridgewater-Raritan HS is in Somerset County, NJ. It is right next to Somerville NJ. That is where the Tour of Somerville is held every year, since 1940. Somerset County bills itself as a "cycling center".
Here is where you can contact the school: http://www.brrsd.k12.nj.us/contact.cfm
Thank you all for your support
I was prepared to give this principal the benefit of the doubt based on the school being nervous about the liability problem of becoming involved in "cycling to school" (don't laugh, I can just picture laywers chomping at the bit over an opportunity to transfer a lawsuit from a shallow pockets driver to a deep pockets town government), however this last post sort of takes the wind out of those sails.
The liability issue still needs resolving though.
harleyfrog
05-02-08, 07:06 AM
"That's some catch, that Catch-22."
bizzz111
05-02-08, 08:10 AM
I was prepared to give this principal the benefit of the doubt based on the school being nervous about the liability problem of becoming involved in "cycling to school" (don't laugh, I can just picture laywers chomping at the bit over an opportunity to transfer a lawsuit from a shallow pockets driver to a deep pockets town government), however this last post sort of takes the wind out of those sails.
The liability issue still needs resolving though.
going with that argument, the school should cancel the district provided bus service, and also ban walking to school.
I don't know where this idea popped up (especially with schools) that bikes are death machines. They aren't drastically more unsafe than walking or driving or skateboarding yet this myth has surfaced that any kid that gets on a bike WILL die.
Heck I've seen a lot of kids wear those shoes with built in rollers in the soles. You want something to ban for being dangerous, how about those things?
maddmaxx
05-02-08, 08:46 AM
I'm simply pointing out that there is a daily lineup at school of parents and their laywers. They are there to recover cellphones taken away from students who are not supposed to have them in school. They are there to file freedom of information requests for reams of paperwork so they can proove that the ............ team of .......... is not receiving as much funding as the think they deserve. They are there to get their children reinstated in school because it was "only a small knife". They are there because their children aren't learning and that must be someones fault. (someone else)
Your right, bikes are not death machines, but the school administrator must take into account the 1 non rational parent/laywer combo who will try to prove that they are. Winning that lawsuit can be very expensive for the town.
Have you noticed lately that school busses will stop at consecutive driveways about 30 feet apart rather than let the kids walk that far. Guess why.
All I'm saying is that administrators must at least consider the problems assosciated with appearing to officially sponsor any action by the students. Putting up the bike rack on school property may put the school at risk. On the other hand it might not, I'm only bringing up alternative reasons here.
Dahon.Steve
05-02-08, 05:58 PM
Here's the problem in a nutshell.
I know the area where the school is located and the problem are the cars coming off Route 22. They come out that highway like there's no tomorrow and since the school is so close, the speeds don't reduce to 25 mph! That's the problem.
Their website has an easy search feature to find the principals contact information for anyone that would like to share an opinion.
http://www.brrsd.k12.nj.us/index.cfm
CSOM, you seem to be good at finding information. Can you give a more exact link to write to the principal?
Thanks.
Cyclaholic
05-02-08, 10:21 PM
Can someone please PM me the principal's email address? i want to write him a nice polite email just to let him know that environmental and personal transport issues are a truly global concern and in a time when political boundaries are no longer relevant to communication the whole world is watch, even someone like me from Australia.
I'm sure the last thing he expects is an email in support of the students from the arse end of the universe ;)
mattotoole
05-02-08, 10:23 PM
I hope these kids, leaders of the future, get some encouragement from parents and peers for sticking with what they believe in. It would be interesting to see where each of these kids winds up in 20 years, compared to Principal Skinner or whatever his name is.
mattotoole
05-02-08, 10:32 PM
A personal update:
My wife sent an email to the principal voicing her opinion about his decision. His response had a tone of "I'm smarter than everybody else, so I'm right and don't' have to listen to the little people". He is very close minded to the idea of providing bike parking, except along a fence, by a 'retention pond', which is in effect a trash filled swamp. He would not consider any idea to make the road safer in front of the school.
Education adminstration has been rife with pompous asses since the beginning of time.
Why can't he task the students with working with the police and school administration to come up with ideas to make it safer, and greener.
Why wait? They can work with the town/city/county themselves, and leave the school and school district out of it.
I don't understand how some people think.
I bet you do understand how they don't think.
And BTW, Bridgewater-Raritan HS is in Somerset County, NJ. It is right next to Somerville NJ. That is where the Tour of Somerville is held every year, since 1940. Somerset County bills itself as a "cycling center". Here is where you can contact the school: http://www.brrsd.k12.nj.us/contact.cfm
Thank you all for your support
Keep fighting the good fight. If this pompous ass won't come around, let this be the beginning of his downfall.
I hope these kids, leaders of the future, get some encouragement from parents and peers for sticking with what they believe in. It would be interesting to see where each of these kids winds up in 20 years, compared to Principal Skinner or whatever his name is.
Ironically, the principal of this school has probably done more to promote bicycling among the high school's students than if he had supported the bicycle rack.
School principals and other adults have never been cool. Look at what happened as a result of the Principal's action; groups of students formed bicycle groups and "rebelled" by bicycling to school.
School personnel understand this phenominon. I have to wonder if the principal of this school didn't know exactly what he was doing. The net result is that kids are bicycling to school. You can't beat that!
Feldman
05-03-08, 10:34 AM
One of these days, we'll finally lose an oil war in the Mideast, and our behavior will be corrected by a squeezing of our oil supply. Go, Iraqui insurgency, Forza, Allez!
I-Like-To-Bike
05-03-08, 12:25 PM
One of these days, we'll finally lose an oil war in the Mideast, and our behavior will be corrected by a squeezing of our oil supply. Go, Iraqui insurgency, Forza, Allez!
:eek: :rolleyes: :mad:
TiberiusBTkirk
05-03-08, 02:04 PM
the Tour of Sommerville is infamous, isn't it also called the Hell of the East?
If I were the principal, I would be more concerned about parents giving their
graduating Senior a hyper uber powerful sports car as a graduation gift.
I seem to recall some accidents where speed was involved when it came to
students driving on their lunch break.
someone should do a roadside memorial tour of that county.
Hi, instead of giving snarky remarks I'd like to buy a bicycle rack for my hometown high school. Does anyone know how this done, how and where to buy a rack, what obstacles lie in getting a place to install the rack, or someone to contact who has done this before successfully? Thanks.
Hi, instead of giving snarky remarks I'd like to buy a bicycle rack for my hometown high school. Does anyone know how this done, how and where to buy a rack, what obstacles lie in getting a place to install the rack, or someone to contact who has done this before successfully? Thanks.
Why don't you start by contacting your home town high school.
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